


A Growing Light

by 364_Unbirthdays



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I swear this was supposed to be about both Aoi twins but it ended up just about Koga and Hinata, Platonic Relationships, This is my favorite broship, Yuta has like 2 appearances, may be ooc, shinobu and Rei only appear once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10130834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/364_Unbirthdays/pseuds/364_Unbirthdays
Summary: Koga has, slowly but surely, entered Hinata's life.LATE, BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HINATA!





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how to write Koga, so I'm sorry if he's OOC.
> 
> Also I'm a wimp who can't swear at all, so Koga's not gonna saying any vulgar "F" words here.
> 
> Enjoy!

He guessed it started after Setsubun.

It was during club practice, in fact, when Koga came up to him. He and Yuta had attempted to wake Rei up by shouting at the coffin, which had irritated Koga, who then threw a flute at them for them to blow. It was almost like summoning a snake out of its basket, but instead of a snake, it was a bat that woke. It took a bit of strength for the (what Hinata suspected was rusting) coffin to open, and Sakuma Rei blearily blinked his eyes to meet the bright world away from his safe bed.

While Yuta was busy scolding Rei to be a bit more on time, Hinata was in charge of making sure all the instruments were in tune. As Hinata apprehensively tested the strings of Koga’s precious guitar on the tuner, the man (dog?) himself came up to him, sighing.

“Hey, Hinata,” Koga started conversationally. “Can you believe it’s already February?”

“What, Oogami-senpai, you’re getting sentimental already?”

Koga hit him on the head.

“It’s not that! I was just thinkin’ that, yknow, waking up that vampire bastard in weird ways seems like a daily routine now. It’d seem weird if we lacked that next year.” The last line came as a mutter so soft that Hinata strained to hear it.

“Eh~?” Hinata crooned, giggling. “Even though it always seemed like Oogami-senpai hated Sakuma-senpai~?”

Koga hit him again.

“That’s not my point! What I wanted to say, Hinata, is that, er…” Koga trailed off, suddenly looking embarrassed. After a whole minute of what looked like painfully convincing himself to just say what he wanted to say, he finally look a deep breath and his words all rushed out at once. “Afterthevampirebastardgraduatesyouguyscancometalktome.”

Hinata stared at him blankly, unsure whether he had heard it right. Under his confused gaze, Koga started fidgeting, ears turning red.

“Don’t make me repeat that, dammit...!” He muttered, eyes darting around rapidly.

Comprehension finally dawned on Hinata, and a knowing smile spread across his features. Seeing Koga embarrassed was rather refreshing, a different side to what was normally an arrogant and proud “wolf”.

“Nyehehe~☆ Don’t worry, Oogami-senpai~ I’ll de~finitely come hang out with you if I get any problems, alright~?” Hinata teased, watching Koga’s fidgets steadily become more violent.  
Koga glared at his underclassman, almost as if wishing he could grab Hinata’s throat and strangle him right now.

Unfortunately for Koga, murder was illegal, and Hinata was certainly playing it to his advantage.

“Screw it, you’re such a brat,” Koga spat out in the end, ears a flaming red. “It looks like yer brother’s done over there, so give me back my damn guitar already.”

Hinata laughed and handed the sleek guitar back to its owner carefully, a silly grin on his face.

However, when Koga turned around after accepting the guitar with relief, he heard the younger boy’s voice sound from behind him, hesitant and hopeful.

“Your offer still stands to this brat, right…?”

Koga turned around in and instant, a frown on his face.

“Of course it does,” he said gruffly, fingers restlessly tapping his guitar. Letting out a small sigh, Koga reached out and gave his underclassman a pat on the head.

Such a lost look didn’t belong on Hinata’s face.

“Oh~? It seems like doggy and Hinata-kun are getting along well, aren’t they?” Rei’s loud drawl suddenly cut through the two’s interaction, and Koga immediately jerked his hand back, an irritated look plastered across his face to cover up his shock. “Yuta-kun, your brother might be stolen away soon…?”

The last line made Yuta mock-yelp indignantly.

“Hey, you! Even though you’re a senpai, if you try to swindle something out of my aniki, I won’t forgive you!!” he cried, putting on his best don’t-mess-with-me face.

Even though it was just a joke, it made Hinata’s heart warm up, seeing Koga yell at both Yuta and Rei, with both of them retaliating with a retort and a laugh respectively.

It was like a small little family in its own way.

  
The second time Koga came up to him was probably before the Dragon King’s Competition that Tetora’s club leader, Kuro, had organized. This time, Koga wasn’t blushing all over the place, though it would have been fun to see, but instead, he was flapping a piece of flimsy paper near his neck, an annoyed look on his face.

“Yo, Hinata,” Koga said, nodding to the younger boy in greeting, “Has that Tetsu-kun boy told you about the upcoming Dragon King’s Competition?”

Hinata, who had been sucking a Popsicle and doing homework on his lap at the same time, looked up at Koga, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He carefully placed his pen on the bench he was sitting on, and pulled the Popsicle out of his mouth, licking the edges slightly to prevent the melted parts from dribbling down onto his hand.

“Tetsu-kun hasn’t said anything about that… Are you sure he even knows? He was all pumped up from organizing the last one and stuff~ If he knew, wouldn’t he have started gushing about it to me~?”

“Don’t ask me,” Koga shot back, sitting down on the bench next to Hinata, “you’re the one who spends all your time with the guy. I thought you’d know a bit more about it, ‘cause you guys are always together. Well, he’ll probably tell you about it later, so give me the details, yeah?”

Hinata stuck his tongue out at him. “Yeah, yeah, sure~ Is UNDEAD registering for Chocolat fes? Shouldn’t you be at practice~?”

Koga grumbled, “No idea… That damn vampire bastard likes to always do things last minute, and that fool of a womanizer would just skip practice like always if we had one. Adonis and I can’t practice much if those two aren’t there.”

Humming, a smile spread on Hinata’s face.

“You love them so~o much, don’t you~” he crowed. “You can’t bear to start practice without your looovely senpai☆”

Koga turned his head and gave the younger boy a half-hearted glare. Wordlessly, he gave Hinata a chop on the head, which resulted in an indignant cry from the younger boy.

“Sometimes I wonder why I even talk to you anymore…” Koga muttered, but there was no bite in his tone. He flapped the flimsy piece of paper faster.

Wordlessly, Hinata took a hardcover book out of his bag and handed it over to Koga, who accepted it with a thanks, replacing his makeshift fan for a more durable one.

They stayed like that for the rest of the time there, in comfortable silence that was only broken by Hinata’s light humming as he wrote his answers down on the paper.

Koga confronted Tetora about the issue of the Dragon King’s Competition a couple days later when he and Hinata were at the arcade together. And, as Hinata had expected, Tetora had known nothing about it. In the subsequent days in which both he and Koga prepared for the Dragon King’s competition, he found himself worrying about Tetora more often than not.

Koga must have noticed it, since, during club activity, he came up to Hinata and said, “That guy’s tough enough for this. He’ll be alright.”

It was more of the thought behind the words rather than the actual reassurance that made Hinata smile.

 

The next time was during Chocolat fes. Since neither UNDEAD nor 2wink were performing, it was a surprising coincidence to encounter Koga in the audience during the live. It wasn’t hard to remain unnoticed, as most of the audience were hardcore Trickstar, Ra*bits or Knights fans, who were too focused on watching the idols sing and dance on stage to even consider the fact that UNDEAD’s Oogami Koga and 2wink’s Aoi Hinata were sitting next to them

“What are you doing here, Oogami-senpai?” Hinata asked, raising his voice so that the boy beside him could hear him. “Could it be you’re secretly the twin of Sena-senpai and are here to cheer him on…?!”

“Shut it!” was Koga’s annoyed reply, struggling to be heard over the loud squealing of the fans as Narukami Arashi blew a kiss to them from the stage. “As if I want to be related to that bastard!”

Hinata giggled. “You’d be surprised of all those theories out there~ Someone came up with a ridiculous story about how you two were long lost twins♪ Isn’t that hilarious☆”

“Stop spouting nonsense, you brat! We don’t even look similar!” Koga had to resort to shouting his words as the cheering grew even louder. “What happened now?!”

“That King of Knights just drew a heart in midair,” Hinata informed him, having kept his eyes on the show. “You shouldn’t be surprised at this amount of cheering, Oogami-senpai. Doesn’t your unit do even more ridiculous stuff? And your lyrics are all, like~ Darkness and tainting stuff and all that kind of edgy stuff~ Girls like that kind of thing a lot, so your lives are always so wild~ Everyone goes kyaa kyaa~ Koga-sama~ Step on me~ Or whatever they’re into.”

Koga gave a judgemental frown. “Did you just say that.”

“I did just say that.”

A pause.

“…I can’t decide if you’re weirder, or the girls.”

“The girls, definitely,” Hinata replied, laughing. “The kind of things they come up with!”

Almost as if to prove his point, one of the girls next to them squealed, “Shoot me, Leo-sama!!”

Koga gave the girl a long, hard look before turning away and shaking his head, muttering something Hinata couldn’t quite catch. The song entered its instrumentals, building the tension up for the climax, and the crowd somehow went even more wild than it was before, with even the audience dancing a little to the song.

In order to keep his view of the stage, Hinata was forced to stand up and move about so that he didn’t bump into anyone.

“Oi, Hinata!” Koga called from where he was seated. “Be careful!

“You’re not gonna stand up, Oogami-senpai?” Hinata called back, deftly avoiding being bumped into by a girl who was rapidly jumping up and down. “Sena-senpai’s doing some kind of weird dance move, it looks amazing. Weren’t you here to observe Knights in the first place?”

Koga seemed to consider this for a moment, then he stood up and fitted himself next to Hinata, trying not to curse and swear whenever someone bumped into him.

“How do the fans stand this! It’s so jammed in here!” Koga complained as a girl accidentally knocked onto his arm.  
  
Hinata ignored him and focused on not getting swept away by the crowd. Knights was an immensely popular unit, and he knew that, but it was still surprising how wild the crowd was going.

‘I wonder if 2wink will have this kind of crowd in the future… Not that I don’t appreciate out fans now, though! Nyehehe☆’ Hinata thought cheerfully to himself. On the stage, the bridge of the song started, and the King of Knights threw his arms wide and sung his solo part with heart-wrenching emotion.

The whole audience was silent, holding their breaths, as the lines were delivered.

Just as Leo finished his solo and passed the solo over onto Arashi, Hinata felt a pull on his sleeve.

It was Koga.

“Oi, Hinata, I nearly forgot about it, but take this.”

Hinata stared down at Koga’s outstretched hand, in which a simple, red box was held in it. There weren’t many fancy patterns on it, just a simple gold label stating the brand of which the box was made by.

“Oogami-senpai, that’s gay,” Hinata said.

Koga just squinted at him. “What are you even blabbering. Shut the hell up and accept it, alright? As a clubmate or whatever.”

“During the Dragon King’s Competition you said you wouldn’t get me a Valentine’s Day gift~ Oogami-senpai’s getting soft~”

“Do you want the damn chocolates or not?! I even made sure they weren't that sweet since you said you didn’t really like sweet things!” Koga spat almost sulkily, moving a little to the side in order to avoid being bumped into by a fangirl who started swaying wildly to the music.

“Oho~ Is this what they call a tsundere~ You’re being cliché, Oogami-senpai☆” Hinata giggled, but plucked the small red box out of Koga’s hands anyways. “Then I’ll accept your dramatic, heartfelt, painful, very gay feelings for me☆”

“Instead of very gay feelings, it’s more of very annoyed feelings. Is this how Ritsu always feels when that vampire bastard fawns over him?” Koga said with a tortured expression on his face. “You’re like that one damn annoying brat of a little brother I never had.”

“The one annoying brat of a little brother that you gave valentines’ chocolate to~?” Hinata said in a sing-song voice as the chorus of the Knights song started up again.

He couldn’t hear Koga’s voice when the other boy gave his reply, but the way Koga pulled him in close after that, twisting his fist into a laughing Hinata’s temple, was enough.

  
After that, the number of times Koga came up to him became countless. Their conversations shifted from club activities to unit activities to school in general and then to things other than school.

Around the end of February, Hinata caught Koga complaining to Adonis about something about an old class reunion in their clubroom. His interest had been piqued, so he inched closer to listen in.

“…And the worst thing is that I’m not even busy on the day, so he’s been threatening to break into my house and force me out, that bastard!” Koga was ranting. “It's like he doesn’t know what respecting other’s privacy means—Oh, Hinata.”

Caught red-handed, Hinata could only shrug and stick out his tongue. “What’s this about a guy threatening to break into your house? Oogami-senpai has a stalker~?”

Adonis, whom had remained silent for the whole time Koga had been complaining, suddenly spoke up.

“Oogami was saying that his old classmates are trying to organize a reunion,” he said solemnly. “But one classmate in particular is very motivated to make him go.”

Hinata clapped his hands together in delight childishly.

“Ooh, sounds fun!” he cried, a big grin on his face. “Can I go with you~? I could dress up like a girl and pretend to be Oogami-senpai’s amazingly adorable girlfriend☆ I’m sure Tomo-kun knows aaaall the good tips for this kind of thing~”

Koga whacked the side of his head wordlessly, and Adonis stared at Koga in alarm.

“Oogami, you shouldn’t hit your underclassman,” he started saying gravely, a frown on his face.

“Thanks, Otogari-senpai.”

“Even if they are irritating you,” Adonis finished.

“Ouch, Otogari-senpai.”

Koga seemed to ignore both of them, instead choosing to grumble and glare at his phone, which vibrated and lit up. Hinata craned his neck to peek at the notification. It was a text message from this “Hiroshi” guy. Judging by Koga’s fists clenching tightly when he saw the text message, Hinata concluded that this Hiroshi guy was that one persistent classmate.

He waited for Koga to unlock his phone, then quickly reached over his senior’s shoulders and snagged the phone, giving a triumphant shout.

“Hinata! What are you doing, you damn brat— Give me back my phone— Hey! Don’t run away!” Koga yelled, lunging forward and nearly falling as Hinata deftly escaped his grip, eyes on the phone.

This Hiroshi guy seemed to be really buddy-buddy with Koga, speaking with a lack of formal language and ridiculously adorable nicknames, and the amount of profanities Koga replied with was nothing to laugh at. And, as for the latest message….

“Oogami-senpai,” Hinata said, looking up from the phone and at the said person, “the Hiroshi guy says that this Marisa girl is going to bring her dog there.”

Koga froze. Sat back down. Closed his eyes. Contemplated his life.

Then after a full two minutes, he opened his eyes again and said, “Tell him I’ll go.”

Hinata grinned and said in a teasing voice, “Then I’m coming with you, Koga-chan☆”

“Wha—?! You brat! You’re not supposed to learn things from Hiroshi, that damn bastard! Hey! I see you typing that emoticon! Give me back my phone! Oi, Hinata!”

“Nyehehe☆ Catch me if you can, Koga-chan~”

From: You  
To: Hiroshi

Oogami-senpai says he’s gonna go (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

  
From: Hiroshi

To: You

Koga-chan’s junior? Wow, you stole his phone?!

  
From: You  
To: Hiroshi

Nyehehe☆ That’s my special abilisswinujdfciuph ehy i

  
“You didn’t have to tackle me,” Hinata complained a couple days later after the incident. “It’s because of Oogami-senpai that I got a bump on my head! Boo boo boo~”

Koga glared at him, restlessly checking his phone and rubbing his fingers against his dog’s leash. “What are you, a baby?”

Sitting beside Koga’s legs, Leon gave a bark.

Hinata pouted. Although Koga had agreed to bring Hinata along with him to the class reunion after a lot of bugging from Hiroshi’s side, he had banned him from wearing anything strange that would make him look like some kind of pervert.

“And definitely,” Koga had said, a vein twitching in his temple, “no dinosaur suits.”

Hinata concluded that Koga knew him a bit too well.

Fidgeting a little, Hinata asked his senior when was the meeting time, and the answer came immediately: the meeting time had already passed, yet no one had shown up.

Hinata wasn’t the type of person who could sit still for very long, so he told Koga that he would quickly search the whole place for any signs of his former classmates. Koga had shrugged at the idea, but asked Hinata to take Leon along with him. Since he didn’t particularly dislike the brown dog, he agreed easily, and soon, the two of them were bounding around the whole place, searching for people who could possibly be Koga’s middle school classmates.

Suddenly, Leon gave a bark, and, much to Hinata’s surprise, there was a bark in reply.

‘Oh,’ Hinata thought, realization suddenly dawning on him. ‘That must be whatever-her-name’s dog that [Hiroshi] was talking about.’

Leon took the lead, pulling Hinata over to a group of unfamiliar people whom he guessed were Koga’s ex-classmates. After a bark from Leon, the group of people turned around to face them.

“Oh, isn’t that Koga-chan’s Leon?” the boy directly in front of him said, smiling as he bent down to pat Leon. “Then, you must be that guy who stole Koga-chan’s phone?”

Hinata guessed that boy was the infamous Hiroshi. He opened his mouth to reply, when…

“HiiiiroooooOOOOOOSSSHIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! Don’t touch Leon, ya bastard!”

An angry yell cut through the crowd of people as the ball of fury known as Oogami Koga charged at them, or, more specifically, the boy who was patting the dog.  
  
“Oho~! Oogami-senpai, did you miss me so much that you came looking for me?” Hinata cried dramatically, lifting his palm to his mouth in mock-surprise. “That's so sweet!”

Koga screeched to a stop and slapped down Hiroshi’s hand off Leon. Not looking up, he gently patted Leon and retorted, “I came looking for Leon.”

Hiroshi, far from looking hurt or angry at the slap, laughed good-naturedly instead.

“Well, since Koga-chan is here, why don’t we go walk around this place a little? There are shops here that allow pets inside. Tell me a bit about yourself, Kouhai-kun, is Koga-chan causing you guys any problems?”

Hinata puffed his chest out, proudly proclaiming, “Oogami-senpai’s a weakling. He got kicked out of the Dragon King’s Competition held by our school’s martial arts club in just a few blows!”

Koga’s angry shout came from behind them. “What was that, Hinata?! Are you trying to pick a fight with me, you brat?!”

Hinata laughed, not in the least intimidated. “Why would I pick a fight with Oogami-senpai☆ He’s a good senpai who gives me valentine’s chocolates~”

Hiroshi turned back to look at Koga, confused.

“Koga-chan, that’s gay,” he said.

“Wha—?! Shut your damn mouth!” Koga shouted, fuming, his ears turning a vibrant red. “You’re disgusting!”

“That’s not what you said when I gave my reply filled with emotion~!” Hinata replied cheerfully, pausing in his steps to look at brightly colored cakes displayed through a window for a café.

Koga, upon reaching where Hinata stood, brought the side of his hand down onto Hinata’s head.

This time Hinata didn’t even properly respond, only smiling a little to himself. This was fun. It was really fun to be walking around with Koga and his ex-classmates.

“Oh, Kouhai-kun, do you want to stay here a bit more to look at all the cakes? I’ll accompany you, we can catch up to the others later,” Hiroshi said, noticing how intently Hinata was staring at the sweet treats. “Your name’s Hinata, right? I’m Kazuhiko Hiroshi. No need for formalities, Hiroshi’s good enough!”

Hinata nodded, a mischievous smile spreading on his. “It’s nice to meet you, then, Hiroshi-san. Now now☆ Tell me more about Oogami-senpai when he was small☆ Ehehe~”

“Are you confusing me for his parents…?” Hiroshi replied amusedly. “We weren’t that great of friends, you know. Back then he wasn’t as outspoken as he was now. Kinda shy, actually. The type of guy who would admire punks and stuff. I guess that’s what happened.”

Reminded of Rei, Hinata thought to himself about how true Hiroshi’s assessment of Koga was. He didn’t know how Koga was like before entering Yumenosaki, but apparently he spoke in the way he did because he was trying to mimic Rei.

It was hard to imagine kindly, gentle Rei as a rude punk, but Hinata firmly believed that his kind heart would remain.

Speaking of hearts, a small banner at the side of one of the shops caught his eye.

“Hiroshi-san, I’m going to move over there to that shop for a bit, alright? You can go find me there, if not I’ll come back here in a while,” Hinata said to the older boy, struggling to put in his polite speech even though their ages were so close. No matter how well Koga may know this boy, he was still a senior whom Hinata had met only a couple of minutes ago.

Hiroshi gave a nod, but didn’t reply, and Hinata assumed that he was free to wander around.

He gazed at the shop, smiling at the cute banner with a teddy bear surrounded with hearts printed on it. The banner boasted of a 30% off on the all plush toys in the shop. The name of the shop was printed in shiny, silver words in a smooth cursive font: “Sweet Whispers- Toyhouse”

Aha. It reminded him of the time he and Yuta performed with fine together in the Toyhouse of Dreamlands. Well, he wasn’t here to roll in his memories of 2wink’s earlier days, but to actually play a little.

Okay, that wasn’t completely true. He was here because it reminded him of their live, but he was staying because that self-moving toy train was so adorable.

He checked his pockets, then the small bag he had brought along with him.

Nope, he hadn't brought enough money for this.

Hinata sighed heavily, pushing the heavy glasses doors with the intention to open, and open they did, bells jingling playfully to signal his presence. It was almost as if he stepped into a heaven for children— shelves of shelves of games and rows of adorable plush toys on the ground, on the walls, and even decorating the counter, who was manned by a kindly-looking middle-aged looking lady. Her tag read ‘Mari’, and Hinata caught the delighted smile that bloomed on her face when he entered the shop.

“Are you looking for any toy in particular, boy?” she said, her voice slow and tone gentle, walking out from behind the counter to attend to him. “Or are you here to just look around?”

Hinata beamed back at her, and replied, “I’m just here to look around. I have no money right now, but all these toys were just so~o adorable!”

Mari grinned back at him.

“I know that feeling a lot. Many people look down on toys, but they make me feel refreshed just by looking at them! There are many plush toys at the back of the shop. Now, I won’t disturb you any longer, but call me if you need to reach something. I’ve got a step ladder.”

Now there’s a lady he could understand. Call him childish, but Hinata adored toys of all shapes and sizes. Board and card games were fun too, but Hinata just loved playing with plush toys and figurines.

‘There’s a toy car over there… Reminds me of the time Yuta-kun’s toy car spoilt♪’

That had become a fond memory, but at the time, it was a terrifying situation. Just imagining Yuta’s tears when he discovered the broken toy had horrified Hinata. Impulsively, he decided that he had to do whatever it took to prevent Yuta from crying, and he resorted to stealing the toy and throwing it away before Yuta could find it.

‘Ehe, when Yuta-kun found out, he was sooo mad, how cute~ He didn’t cry either, so it was a flawless win~’

Hinata’s eyes landed on a toy cake meant for small children, in which the toppings were able to freely stick and unstick to the toy cake due to the velcros attached to them. This brought him all the way back to a couple of years ago, where Hinata had tried to run away, but was chased after by an angry Yuta holding a Christmas cake.

Ahh. He wondered where he would be if Yuta hadn’t found him, hadn’t caught hold of his hand at that moment and pulled him back.

Thinking back on it, he really had no regrets in going back. Sure, sometimes he imagined if Yuta would be happier if he really had left, but…

He smiled to himself. The shine in Yuta’s eyes when he reached up to Hinata during Setsubun held him captivated. After being told repeated and repeatedly that he was lived and cherished…

Being precious and irreplaceable to someone was a warm feeling, even if it was to only one person.

“Oh! That’s a decorative jellyfish keychain-maker! Didn’t Shinkai-senpai from Tetsu-kun’s unit have a keychain like the one displayed here, too~? Aww, they’re sooo cute!” Hinata crooned, giggling. “There’s one for puppies here too! I wonder if Oogami-senpai would like it…?”

It was a pity he didn’t have enough money. Or maybe it was a blessing, since he would have impulsively bought that kit right at that moment without a second thought. The image of Koga coming to school with sparkly dog keychains on his bag was hilariously adorable. Especially since the man (dog?) himself might not realize what was wrong.

There was one for a bat as well, and Hinata wondered if Rei would like it. The bat was UNDEAD’s symbol, after all.

Moving on, his eyes caught onto a cute keychain of a stuffed fox with glittering pink eyes. The cute animal smiled up at him, eyes literally sparkling in the bright light.

……it really was a pity that he hadn’t brought any money along with him.

Looking at all the cute kits and toys, he must have lost struck of time, because soon enough the door to the toy shop was flung open and a furious yell echoed though the whole place.

“HINATA, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

Mari, who had been peacefully minding her counter, leaped back in surprise and knocked over a large Lego box, letting out a startled cry. Hinata’s heart leaped to his throat for a moment, being caught of guard, and he took a couple of deep breaths to calm his heart down.

“…Oogami-senpai, you shouldn’t scare poor Mari-san! How violent!”

Koga seemed to ignore him.

“YOU’VE BEEN MISSING FOR OVER HALF AN HOUR, YOU LITTLE BRAT. THE ONLY THING STOPPING ME FROM STRANGLING YOU RIGHT NOW IS THE FACT YOUR BROTHER WOULD SLAUGHTER ME!” he roared, eyes flashing as he stomped over to Hinata and punched his shoulder.

Hinata, stumbling back after wincing in pain, replied, “Also, murder’s illegal.”

“DO I LOOK LIKE A GIVE A DAMN ABOUT LAWS RIGHT NOW?!”

Meeting Koga’s furious eyes, Hinata felt a smile spread on his face.

“Oogami-senpai, it’s sooo sweet that you were worried about me~ But you gotta apologize to Mari-san first. You shocked her so much that she knocked over a Lego set, you meanie!”

He stuck out his tongue.

Koga brought his fist down onto Hinata’s temple and ground it.

“Ow ow ow! Okay, okay, I get it, Oogami-senpai~ You’re too violent~ I’m sorry~” Hinata attempted to struggle out of Koga’s grip, but the older boy held him tight.

“Next time check your phone more often, Hinata,” Koga growled at him before letting go, stomping over to the counter and helping Mari lift the Lego set back into its original place.

Hinata checked his phone, which had been in his bag.

27 missed calls.

Whoops.

“If Hinata caused you any trouble, feel free to punch him,” Koga said to Mari, muttering something that Hinata couldn’t quite catch under his breath.

Mari, who had recovered from her initial shock, smiled and replied, “No, no, he’s been a sweet boy. He reminds me of six-year-old grandson.”

Koga squinted at his junior. “Did you just get compared to a squirt?”

“Oogami-senpai, you’re sooo rude☆ ……Hey! Don’t grab my collar like that!”

“Thanks for taking care of this annoying brat, we’ll be leaving now,” Koga told Mari, going through the pains to use his polite speech, and Mari cheerfully waved goodbye to them, saying something about how youths were so caring these days.

However, when they left the shop, Koga suddenly stopped in his tracks. Letting go of Hinata’s shirt collar, he told the younger boy that he had accidentally left something in the shop, and, after sternly telling Hinata to stay where he was, ran back into the shop.

He came out a few minutes later, looking satisfied and a little embarrassed.

“But, Oogami-senpai, didn’t Hiroshi-san tell you where I was? I told him where I was going, you knoow~?” Hinata asked the moment Koga returned back to his side.

“The bastard forgot,” his senior grumbled, a vein popping on his head. “Probably was lost in thought or some random crap like that. Don’t randomly run off without letting a more responsible person know, Hinata. I don’t want to be killed by both that vampire bastard and your brother.”

“Yeah yeah,” Hinata replied, sticking his tongue out again. “I’m sorry I made Oogami-senpai sooooo~ worried for me~”

“You…!” Koga looked as if he would very much like to kill him right there and then.

Hinata only laughed.

It was a warm feeling to be precious to someone, even if that someone was rude, rude Oogami-senpai.

  
The next time Hinata was approached by Koga was after school, the 5th of March, and after club activities. The whole day, Hinata was showered with birthday cheers and enthusiastic congratulations, so during club activities and after them, it seemed kind of quiet.

Trying to balance all his gifts and cards after his club activities, Hinata had to sit down in the clubroom and properly sort everything out and put it all into his bag. Yuta, who had already packed everything properly, frowned as he watched his older brother gingerly pack all his gifts.

“Aniki, you’re so messy,” Yuta said, sighing. “What made you think it was a good idea to carry everything by hand and not put them into your bag immediately?”

Hinata grumbled childishly, pouting. “But like this I can see all my gifts!”

“It’s not like they’ll disappear if you take your eyes off them,” Yuta retorted, crossing his arms. As he opened his mouth to speak again, he was interrupted by Koga, who had finished keeping up his guitar. Rei was nowhere in sight, but Hinata guessed that he was roaming the school grounds now that the sun was already waning in the distance.

“Oi, Hinata, Yuta, take these.”

Koga tossed each of them a small bag. Yuta’s bag was a brilliant light blue, and Hinata’s was a shimmering bright pink. Perhaps he was showing off his aim, since the small bags, tied by a deep purple string, landed perfectly in their hands.

Before the twins had a chance to reply, Koga spoke up again.

“Hinata, yours is sweet, so you can eat it properly. Yuta, yours is spicy, you make sure you accept it properly, alright?”

Yuta thanked Koga properly, smiling gratefully and taking out the small cookies inside.

Hinata, on the other hand, just grinned at Koga and cooed, “Oogami-senpai’s so sweet and considerate, nyehehe~☆”

Koga frowned at Hinata. Apparently, his lack of violence towards the younger boy was a form of a gift as well.

Suddenly, a simple chime played from Yuta’s phone. He picked it up and, upon reading the notification, a confused look spread on his face.

“Shinobu-kun says he’s still in school, and that he wants to meet up for a while. It won’t take that long,” Yuta explained when his brother asked him what was wrong, “so I’ll meet you at the school gates later?”

Hinata shrugged, a playful smile spreading on his face.

“Have fun~” he said, giggling to himself. “Tell your onii-chan aa~ll the details later, alright?”

“Wha—It’s not like that, Aniki!” Yuta protested, turning red.

“I didn’t even saaa~y anything~” Hinata grinned, shooing his younger brother out of the room. “Have loooots of fun, Yuta-kun☆”

“Aniki!” was what was last heard of an embarrassed Yuta, and Hinata returned to the room, leaving only him and Koga as the occupants. He returned to his spot on the floor, carefully packing each and every one of his gifts with care.

Koga sat down next to him, staring at all the goodies.

“Did your Tetsu-kun give you that?” he asked, pointing at a cute pink box with blue and yellow triangles shakily drawn all over it with gel pen. “Looks like something he’d do. Also looks like something he’d mess up on.”

Koga was obviously referring to where some of the lines smudged and shook.

“Meanie!” Hinata stuck out his tongue at his senior once more. “Tetsu-kun put his best efforts! I bet Oogami-senpai’s even worse than Tetsu-kun☆ I saw your grade in Art!”

Koga glared at Hinata, but didn’t reply. Obviously, Hinata had been correct to assume that Koga’s artistic ability was terrible. To save his face, Koga quickly asked what was in the box.

“Oho~ Is Oogami-senpai jealous~” teased Hinata, face sporting an even wider grin. “Isn’t it too late to be checking out love rivals~”

The older boy narrowed his eyes at his junior. “Have I ever told you that you were an annoying little shit.”

If it was possible, Hinata grinned even wider. “Yes.”

Koga sighed, and Hinata took this has his cue to meticulously place the box into his bag. He held up his last gift, which was a keychain of pink headphones, which was obviously a reference to the fact Hinata wore pink headphones around his neck on a daily basis.

It was the kind of ring keychain which was a pain to hang, which he had complained to Koga many times, so he gently put it in the front pocket of his bag and made a mental note to get Yuta to help him attach it to something when they got home.

Since he had finished packing up, he zipped up his bag, stood up and slung it over his shoulders. Wordlessly, Koga stood up as well, sighing.

“The keys are with the vampire bastard, so we can’t lock up the room right now,” Koga commented, grumbling. “Looks like he might be staying here for the night again. Leave his coffin open will you, Hinata?”

“Yeee~s sir!” Hinata saluted and carefully pulled open the coffin lid.

When they exited the clubroom and were walking towards the school gates, Koga suddenly stopped in his tracks. Hinata, sensing the stop, turned back to his senior with a questioning look.

“Don’t tell me you left something in the room?” Hinata asked skeptically.

“It’s not that,” Koga said, sighing. “Hey, Hinata. Open your hand.”

Hinata frowned, suspicious. “Are you going to pull that age-old trick where you hold my hand after that?”

Koga gritted his teeth. “Shut the hell up and open your hand, Hinata.”

Hinata shut up and held open his hand.

With almost startling gentleness, Koga reached into his bag and carefully placed a single keychain onto Hinata’s outstretched palm.

At the sight of the keychain, Hinata’s eyes went wide in surprise. Resting perfectly on his outstretched palm, was the adorable fox keychain that he had been staring at when he tagged along on Koga’s class reunion event. Everything was the same as the day he had first seen it— cute, reddish brown fur, large, glittering pink eyes and a sweet smile.

The only difference was that, well, it seemed considerably cleaner.

For a moment, Hinata couldn’t speak, he only gaped at the small toy. Koga, whose ears steadily grew redder and redder, stared at Hinata carefully, observing his reaction.

There was a complete silence, and then—

“Oogami-senpaaaaaaa~i!!”

“Ow! Hinata, don’t tackle me!”

Hinata, making strange half-laughing, half-sobbing sounds, tightened his arms around Koga, who had to stumble back before regaining his balance.

“Uwaaaaaa~ Oogami-senpaaaaai, how did you knooooow?!” Hinata laughed? Sobbed? onto the base of Koga’s neck. “It’s soooo cuuute~?!”

Koga smiled, gingerly patting Hinata’s head.

“Yeah yeah, happy birthday, Hinata. Get off me, you brat.”

“Oogami-senpai did I ever tell you that you were a very good very nice very best senpai,” Hinata gushed out at the heat of the moment, “and that you were sweet enough to notice something that I wanted—”

“Oi, you’re messing up your words,” Koga said tiredly, but there was no bite in his words. “Also you’d better get to the school gate, your brother should be about done by now.”

Hinata let go of his senior, still laughing a little. “So tsundere~ You’re being cliché, Oogami-senpai~”

Koga shrugged, attempting to frown but unable to keep the smile off his face. “Yeah, now get going, Hinata. I’ll stay here for a bit to try catch the vampire bastard again to talk about our unit activities again.”

Stroking the cute fox keychain, Hinata shouted a cheerful goodbye to Koga, and made his way over to the school gates. Yuta wasn’t there yet, so he stayed there, grinning widely at the cute fox, and fixed it onto his school bag.

A couple of minutes later, Yuta appeared, Shinobu close behind him, both of their faces pink from running to the school gates. Hinata greeted Shinobu and gave a big hug to Yuta, who was struggling to catch his breath.

“Oh? Aniki, what’s that keychain?” Yuta asked, noticing the cute fox. “It’s eyes are shining.”

“Isn’t it soooo~ cute☆” Hinata replied delightedly, linking his arms between Yuta’s and Shinobu’s and pulling them forward, away from the school gates.

The keychain swung and the fox’s eyes glinted in the setting sunlight. Although it couldn’t change its glitter or shine, if, at that moment, it reflected the state of Hinata’s heart, it would have produced enough light to shine a path through a tunnel of darkness.

 From that time onwards, Koga rarely approached Hinata.

It was always the other way around.

**Author's Note:**

> COME TALK TO mE ABOUT KOGAHINA AS BROS/ENSTARS IN GENERAL AT @unbxrthdxys ON TWITTER AND 364-Unbirthdays#4408 ON DISCORD
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


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